Magnetic tape in cassette form, such as that used for video recorders, has extremely high capacity for digital data storage. In the case of eight millimeter (8 mm) tape cassettes, each cassette is capable of storing approximately 2.2 gigabytes of digital data and takes a minimum of about 2.5 hours to process using existing hardware, such as the Exabyte cassette tape reader.
The processing of digital tape cassettes is slower than conventional reel-type digital tapes because existing digital cassette tape readers and recorders can accept only one cassette at a time. Substantial operator time is therefore consumed in locating, inserting and removing the cassettes, one at a time, to be processed with existing commercially available digital cassette tape readers and recorders. To overcome these limitations, it would be advantageous to group together several cassettes for sequential processing, and to provide an automatic method for conveying, inserting and removing multiple cassettes without significant operator intervention.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for automating the handling of multiple digital tape cassettes for processing by commercially available cassette tape reader/recorders. A removable magazine rack stores twelve or more tape cassettes, and mates to and automatically inserts and removes cassettes from the reader in command ordered sequence. Photocells are used to identify and index to the desired tape cassette.